Gary's Story

How The Super Cat has taken Gary to a 3-Step 48″ Vertical

By Barney Fuller

The last four years of training on the Super Cat has earned my son Gary a three step 48-inch vertical jump. The question that is asked so often is, “How was he able to go so far beyond the average jumping ability of athletes.”

I have talked with coaches all across America concerning their athletes’ inability to get off the floor. What we are finding is that the lack of development in vertical jump is stemming from low intensity training programs.

I believe that there are two essential factors in vertical jump development. First, a high level “power intensity exercise, and second, the continuity of training over an extended period of time. Gary’s training program has covered a period of four years and although he has reached a great vertical, we still believe there is yet remaining more potential.

The fact that Gary has so drastically improved his jumping has raised a few eyebrows, one of which is Dr. Sam Shalala of Houston, Texas. Dr. Shalala is an exercise physiologist who spends a great deal of time training professional athletes in the area of speed and vertical jump. He has observed Gary’s development over the past four years and is presently preparing a research study on the physiological effects to the muscle fibers and the alterations that occur when fibers undergo a sustained high intensity training activity of a lengthy duration.

The understanding which has emerged here at Powernetics relative to the Super Cat’s conditioning program is twofold. The first being the explosive exercises when interacting with the appropriate power load creates the desired intensity, which in turn causes the muscle fiber to undergo transformation and adaptation in harmony with the nature of the force being applied. that is the reason we stress no coasting through the exercise, and a continual increase in the weight as time progresses, yet maintaining the same explosive quality in the exercise.

Muscles remind me of an old mule. They will only respect what you demand of them. The more intense the demand the greater the response. When Gary would up the volume of repetitions and weight load we witnessed in due time an increase in his power level. The result was his vertical jump continued to climb. The second has to do with the time element. Great vertical jump development does not come overnight. When we are endeavoring to develop the full power potential of the athlete, we are looking at a time period of four to six years with this during the age of his best mental and physical receptivity. I believe this period to be in and around the ages of 15 to 21 plus or minus. I get asked quiet often where did Gary get his “genes.” My response usually is, “as far as we can determine Gary is an average run of the mill athlete.” His jumping ability going into his sophomore year was around 18 inches. He had up to that time refused to enter into a program on the Super Cat. I do recall a very serious conversation we had that day concerning his inability to jump, and what it would cost him down the road.

When one has been a coach and a father of an athlete such as Gary, you want to see every kid develop and go to be successful.

We never know the size of an oak tree that resides inside the acorn. This is also true of our athletes, until they have experienced the quality of training necessary to tap and reveal the potential inside them. Gary went beyond what I thought was possible for him. I believe this story can be told again and again in the lives of our athletes across America if they can somehow have the same opportunity that he had. I believe what we have tapped into with the Super Cat will produce the greatest jumpers in the world.